HDFEST’s New York event will be taking place September 30th and October 1st in Manhattan at the Goldcrest Post Screening Room, 799 Washington Avenue. HDFEST is considered “the world’s only high-definition film festival.” HDFEST screens films created exclusively with HD technology and plays all festival content exclusively in High-Definition. The upcoming NYC festival will be a historic first as all screenings will also be using the cutting edge high-definition DivX format for playback of all festival content.
The festival will be truly invaluable for the independent filmmaker interested in incorporating High-Definition cameras and/or editing systems. Along with revolutionary screenings of High-Definition content taking advantage of DivX’s technology for playback, HDFEST New York will include panel discussions on HD filmmaking. New York panels include “HD Filmmaking at the Edge of the HD Transformation” and “HD for the New and Unitiated.” These discussions will also offer the opportunity for Q&A with industry experts who have been using HD technology since its inception. HDFEST panel discussions give an overview of HD camera choices, HD editing systems to choose from, along with other considerations independent filmmakers should take into account before making the switch to High-Defininition.
The HDFEST New York HD DivX DVD Presentation includes the World Premiere of Dan Turner’s “Experiment,” a psychological thriller created in Prague and the UK. In addition to its line-up of documentaries, dramas and comedies, HDFEST will also include HD animations and HD experimental film at the NY festival. These genres are recent additions to the HDFEST Deffie awards categories. Animations to be presented include the New York Premiere and HD Premiere of “The Journey” and the New York Premiere of “oby.” Experimental pieces to be screened include the HD Premiere of Guy Roland’s film “Spacer” and New York artist and NEA recipient Shelly Silver’s film “What I’m Looking for.” In total, thirteen short films created with HD technology will be screened at HDFEST’s New York event. These projects originated from the US, Canada, UK, Germany, Singapore, Ireland, Australia and Japan.
Festival Director Issac Alexander states “HDFEST is excited to be partnering with DivX to showcase the impressive capabilities of DivX HD. We at HDFEST are very enthusiastic about the implications DivX offers for independent filmmaking. This is powerful technology with a myriad of applications.” DivX HD compression delivers 720p HD video at 4Mb/s, allowing for an entire DivX HD movie to fit on a single standard DVD. DivX HD allows films to screen in High-Definition resolution using DivX Certified High Definition DVD players that are on the market today at very reasonable prices. Leveraging the advanced technology of the DivX codec, independent filmmakers can take advantage of flexible, high performance HD creation and playback options today.
More more information about HDFEST’s New York event, please visit www.hdfest.com or email admin@hdfest.com. Tickets are $10 per screening session and $8 per panel discussion and can be purchased on HDFEST’s website or at the festival the day of the events. The schedule for HDFEST New York can be found at http://www.hdfest.com/nyc_05.htm. The HDFEST 2005 World Tour will also be taking place in Los Angeles, London, Helsinki and South Florida, details can be found on the HDFEST website.